Since the introduction of the Audi Q7 back in 2006, Audi has done very well with its SUV segment selling more than 1.5 million Q models to date.
The company reports that 28 percent of sales this year would be SUVs and this figure is likely to rise to 35 percent by 2020.
To add to this momentum, Audi has confirmed that it will build the Q1, a small SUV dubbed the “Baby Audi” from 2016.
The new model joins a line-up of Q3, Q5 and Q7 and provides an entry to the Audi Q range.
The vehicle will be built in the Ingolstadt plant on a VW Polo platform, securing the future of the factory.
There are no details yet about the engines fitted in the new Q1 but the A1 range of Audis has more than enough torque to power the new micro SUV.
The Q1 would compete with rivals like Nissan Juke. The plug-in hybrid system currently found in the A3 e-tron could also be adopted for use the Q1 for a plug-in hybrid version.
The Q1 is likely to get a six-speed manual gearbox as standard, with the newly developed 10-speed DSG gearbox an optional extra on conventionally powered models.
The Q5 is the global market leader in its direct competitive environment.
This year, Audi had already delivered 194,430 units of the Q5 to customers by the end of October, which is 17 percent more than in the prior-year period.
Around 230,000 units of this model were built in 2013, which is more than half of the total Q volume.
“The Audi Q1 is part of our broad-based SUV strategy. It is designed on the basis of the modular transverse engine concept and will round off our Q series at the bottom end,” stated Rupert Stadler, chairman of the board of management of AUDI AG.
As an attractive entry into the Q family, the new model will make a strong contribution to the company’s ongoing growth and will strengthen its international competitiveness.
Audi is continuing its model offensive with the Q1; by 2020, the automaker will expand its product range from the current 49 to more than 60 models. By then, Audi will reach total unit sales of more than two million automobiles each year.
“We already know VW is lining-up a super-mini-based SUV in the form of the Taigun, which will use the underpinnings from the up!, and is scheduled to arrive in 2016. BMW and Mercedes also have entry-level SUVs in the pipeline, likely to be called the X-City and X-Class respectively.”
SUV boost: Audi confirms production of baby Q1
SUV boost: Audi confirms production of baby Q1
Japan’s beloved last pandas leave for China as ties fray
TOKYO: Two popular pandas are set to leave Tokyo for China Tuesday, leaving Japan without any of the beloved bears for the first time in 50 years as ties between the Asian neighbors fray.
Panda twins Lei Lei and Xiao Xiao are due to be transported by truck out of Ueno Zoological Gardens, their birthplace, disappointing many Japanese fans who have grown attached to the furry four-year-olds.
“Although I can’t see them, I came to share the same air with them and to say, ‘Hope you’ll be OK,’” one woman visiting the zoo told public broadcaster NHK.
The pandas’ abrupt return was announced last month during a diplomatic spat that began when Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi hinted that Tokyo could intervene militarily in the event of an attack on Taiwan.
Her comment provoked the ire of Beijing, which regards the island as its own territory.
The distinctive black-and-white animals, loaned out as part of China’s “panda diplomacy,” have symbolized friendship between Beijing and Tokyo since they normalized diplomatic ties in 1972.
Their repatriation comes a month before their loan period expires in February, according to the Tokyo Metropolitan Government, which operates Ueno Zoo.
Japan has reportedly been seeking the loan of a new pair of pandas.
However, a weekend poll by the liberal Asahi Shimbun newspaper showed that 70 percent of those surveyed do not think the government should negotiate with China on the lease of new pandas, while 26 percent would like them to.
On Sunday, Ueno Zoo invited some 4,400 lucky winners of an online lottery to see the pandas for the last time.
Passionate fans without tickets still turned out at the park, sporting panda-themed shirts, bags and dolls to demonstrate their love of the animals.
China has discouraged its nationals from traveling to Japan, citing deteriorating public security and criminal acts against Chinese nationals in the country.
Beijing is reportedly also choking off exports to Japan of rare-earth products crucial for making everything from electric cars to missiles.
However, China routinely removes pandas from foreign countries and the latest move may not be politically motivated, said Masaki Ienaga, a professor at Tokyo Woman’s Christian University and an expert in East Asian international relations.
“If you talk about (Chinese) politics, the timing of sending pandas is what counts,” and pandas could return to Japan if bilateral ties warm, he said.
Other countries use animals as tools of diplomacy, including Thailand with its elephants and Australia with its koalas, he added.
“But pandas are special,” he said. “They have strong customer-drawing power, and... they can earn money.”
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